Keith Devens .com

The right way to do titles on the web

To all web developers: Please get your titles right. I don't mean titles of articles, as in headlines, but the HTML <title>s that show up in your browser window title.

For the most part there is only one right way to do titles on the web. The format should work according to the grammar: htmltitle := name separator title, where name is the name of the site, publication, or author, separator is something like '-', ':', or '»', and title is the descriptive title of your post, essay, article, etc. If you want to be clever with your titles ("Lax Styx Wax Clicks") that's cool, there's no need for your titles to be boring. But something like Wow! is usually inadvisable (I've been guilty of that too). This doesn't necessarily apply to every page on the web, but it specifically applies to news sites, weblogs, forums, etc.

Some good examples:

• Keith Devens - Weblog: The right way to do titles on the web - December 06, 2004 (multiple layers of separators is ok. The date at the end even gives you extra context.)
• lgf: Palestinian Election Charades (abbreviation for the site name - all good)
• Roger L. Simon: Blame it on the Bosa Nova (full name, excellent. clever title, all good)
• PoliPundit.com » HillaryCare
• Photo Matt » Happy Christmahanukwanzakah
• The Spread of Weighted Lists (Signal vs. Noise) (some variation is ok)

Some bad examples:

• Bias Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. Bad - should be something like "The Weekly Standard: Bias Beyond a Reasonable Doubt", or "The Weekly Standard - Robert J. Barro: Bias Beyond a Reasonable Doubt"
• National Post. Bad. Every article at the National Post has the title "National Post".
• OpinionJournal - Featured Article.

Remember that this is what shows up in bookmarks, or links you save, maybe in people's news readers, and most importantly, in my weblog posting window as put there by my blogging bookmarklet.

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13:02 (utc-5)
edited: 13:15 (utc-5)